IT has been a difficult week for Bradford Park Avenue after being dragged back down into the relegation battle in the National League North Division and then humiliated in the FA Trophy.

Bradford slumped to a 3-1 defeat at basement outfit AFC Telford United last weekend which left them just three points better off the bottom.

Worse was to come as they were thrashed 5-0 at a club from a lower step on the non-league ladder just three days later.

When faced with a favourable draw and an achievable route in the quarter-finals of a competition that ends with a Wembley final, Avenue fluffed their lines. They under performed at Evo-Stik Premier Division Nantwich Town in a replay knowing that a home tie against Stourbridge, a club further down the same league, was awaiting the winners.

Bradford boss Martin Drury pulled no punches in what was an emotional outpouring of a post match interview. But there has been nothing coming out of Horsfall Stadium since.

The club’s leading scorer Chib Chilaka echoed his manager’s words in a later interview that appeared on Avenue’s website, but they now appear to have closed ranks.

From his comments it seems that Drury either offered to resign or threatened to quit after witnessing Tuesday’s capitulation. The club’s twitter feed throughout the game was just as brutally honest as the manager in it’s assessment of the display.

The saving grace for Park Avenue is that they have games in hand on their league rivals and are capable of stringing a run of results.

They are also under a young manager who makes up for a lack of experience with bags of determination and desire.

He has the skilled coach Jamie Price as his assistant and the vast experience of director of football Terry Dolan to call on.

The three of them and the squad have already held clear the air talks and are determined to learn valuable lessons and bounce back from the current blip.